My Research Paper

For my research paper I decided to write on the media influence on the youth of today. I picked this topic because the media is very effective in the upbringing of our culture and I feel that the youth is the most influential group being targeted. I wrote about both positive and negative aspects of the media's influence, in order to show that there are both sides to the story. Most negative aspects of the media have positive side effects that are there to combat whatever may be wrong. For my op-ed piece I decided to write a blog at thoughts.com. I basically talked about our assignment and how I conducted a public service about it. I went to my local church and handed out brochures to the parishoners. I allowed them to take copies of them and I made myself available to answer any questions or comments they might have. I posted most of the brochure information on the blog, which I am posting a link for here.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2806848821722306185

Historical Election

This past week our country witnessed perhaps the most historical election in our history. That is because, for the first time ever, an african american has been elected president of the United States. This change brought about in our country is a very big step in the way we percieve difference and equality. This election was very popular in many ways. We saw a dramatic increase in voter turnout, especially the african american and young vote. It's good to see that our country is still widely affected by the minority and young influence. Maya Angelou once said, "Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise." To me, this line from her poem relays a message that directly coorelates to this election. She talks about the pain of the past, and all the struggles and hardships her people went through. But she still rises, and stands up for herself. This election was a way for the african american population to use their voice that they weren't so sure they posessed. And by using that voice, they have forever changed the future of this country, side by side with every type of citizen living in the U.S.

Election Day

Yesterday was a very exciting and dissapointing day for me. This was my first election and it meant a lot to me to be involved in such an immense election year. It began like any other day and seemed to be going well. I had been fighting with many friends for so long now about this election and it was all starting to get very repetitive. Of course, I'm a McCain supporter, so I've been up against a lot of people. I couldn't wait to go home and vote. Once I was done with classes, I went to work with my dad for awhile, and he said he waited about an hour and a half to vote. The same was with my brother, uncles, and grandparents. So I expected to be in line for quite awhile before I could cast my vote. I waited at home for my sister and mom and as soon as they were both home, we went to the polls. We actually waited for about ten minutes before we voted. There was really no one there, so we were extremely lucky to get there at the perfect time. After we voted we had to go home and get ready for some family to come over. It was my mom's birthday, so we had a small get together for her. With my family there, we watched the election coverage all night and we couldn't belive what was happenening. I really never expected the election to go this way. So I was extremely upset after learning McCain had lost, and I really didn't care to watch the rest of the coverage after that. Hopefully we get it right in 2012.

Polish Eagle

This is a picture of the Polish Eagle. My entire family comes from a Polish background, so I've grown up around the Polish culture my entire life. I take a lot of pride in my heritage, and my brother and I hope to start a Polish-American club at school later this year. The Polish Eagle has always represented me in a lot of ways, and I love displaying it in public, whether it be on my shirt, or on my chain I wear around my neck. I'm also going to be getting this tattooed on my back later this year.

Mid-term writing

So far this semester, I really feel like I've improved my writing in many areas. For the most part, I know that the flow of my writing has become a lot smoother, and my transitioning between ideas has improved as well. I started out the semester needing a lot of work on using factual evidence, and citing it too. I've noticed that my papers become full circle when I use more evidence to make my point. In the beginning, I found it hard to stay on topic when we were assigned a paper that was a lot longer than what I was used to writing. I would have paragraphs of useless information just to fill the length requirement, and I now know which information to look for and use to make it interesting and on topic throughout the entire paper.

finally some work

Every summer I have a part time job with my dad, working with him and his home improvement business. That's actually really exciting to me because I get to make money and have a really good time. My dad pretty much runs a family business so when we need extra help, my uncles, cousins and brother are always there to make it seem less like work and more entertaining. Now that I've been in school for a while, work has really slowed down, because I have class and other stuff going on. So it's been really frustrating to me because I've constantly been pulling money out of my savings because I'm broke! This week is good because my dad just started a big job and I'll be able to work at least all this week with him, and I also have been working with my uncles on the side. Sooner or later I need to get a steady job to give myself a reliable income, but until then I'll have these smaller side jobs to hold me over.

Religion in Public Life

I believe that religion shouldn't be made such a public thing. I'm happy with the way it's regarded now. People should not be guided or influenced to adopt other people's beliefs. Religion should always remain a personal choice, and it shouldn't be heavily regarded when making judgements about people or other countries. But, religion can be a uniting thing when it's on display. People unite together under a common religious bond, and they share a spiritual connection with others that share their same feelings. So, in that regard, I think religion shouldn't be forced upom anyone, but I believe if religious groups practice in a way that doesn't affect or impose on anyone else, nothing should be changed about how they do their business.